Evangelical Christians have offered various interpretations of Genesis 1-3. Below is an abridged version of Ken Keathley’s summary of the main Four views among evangelicals concerning creation : young earth creationism, old earth creationism, evolutionary creationism, and intelligent design:
1. Young earth creationism (YEC): argues for a literal, 6-day creation approximately 6000 years ago. They contend that the proper interpretation of Gen 1-3 requires this position. Death, disease, and predation entered the world through the Fall of Adam. For the most part, geological evidences of an ancient earth are attributed to the flood of Noah. YEC advocates find the astronomical evidences of an ancient universe (such as light from distant stars) much more difficult to explain. A variety of theories are offered, but the predominant one is still the mature creation view, otherwise known as the “appearance of age” hypothesis. Leading representative group: Answers in Genesis
2. Old earth creationism (OEC): (sometimes called progressive creationism): argues that God created in successive stages over a period of millions or billions of years. In other words, OEC advocates accept the scientific evidence for an ancient universe (and the Big Bang theory), but they do not accept the predominant biological theory of origins, which of course is Darwinian evolution. OEC theorizes that God miraculously created Adam and Eve about 60 to 100 thousand years ago. The strongest objection YEC proponents have to OEC is its acceptance of animal death and disease prior to Adam’s fall. Leading representative group: Reasons to believe .
3. Evolutionary creationism (EC): (also called “theistic evolution”): accept the current scientific theories both of the origin of the universe and of the human race. That is, EC accepts the Darwinian hypothesis that all life, including humans, descended from a common ancestor (generally understood to be a single-cell life form). EC advocates believe that God endued Creation with the principles and laws that caused the essential components of life to self-organize. Random mutation provided the immense variety we observe in the fossil record and in living things today, and natural selection determined which species survived and which went extinct. Generally, EC does not understand Adam and Eve to be literal persons (though there are significant exceptions to this point). Leading representative group: BioLogos Foundation .
4. Intelligent design (ID): movement began as a group of scholars and scientists who were unconvinced by the Darwinian hypothesis and were disturbed by the philosophical naturalism that seems to underlie it. ID proponents argue that an objective examination of the scientific evidence alone (without appealing to the Genesis account) will lead an unbiased inquirer to the conclusion that design by an Intelligent Being (i.e., God) is the best explanation of the evidence. ID contends that arguing over the age of the earth distracts from the bigger adversary–Darwinism and the philosophical atheism underlying it. As a result, one can find both YEC and OEC proponents within the ID movement, and in fact a handful of ID advocates hold to certain non-Darwinian versions of evolution (Michael Behe, author of Darwin’s Black Box, is a prime example). Leading representative group Discovery Institute .
Christians who have been taught one of these views can find it hard to see the merits in other views. However it is clear there are godly, intelligent Christians holding each position. While this is an important issue to consider, we should approach it with humility, and be willing to understand views other than our own. If you are interested there are some links below that may help you in this. All Christians can have confidence that the Triune God alone created our universe out of nothing, by his word (Hebrews 11:3). Our Creator has revealed himself to us through his creation (Rom 1:19-20), but most clearly through his word (2 Tim 3:16-17) and his Son, Jesus Christ (Heb 1:1-2).
Related Links (from various perspectives): How did the church interpret the days of creation before Darwin? (Justin Taylor) Sinned in a literal Adam, Raised in a literal Christ (Tim Keller argues evolution can be compatible with a belief in a historical fall and a literal Adam and Eve) What’s wrong with theistic evolution? (Kevin De Young, Jay Richards) Science trumps the Bible? An amazingly candid and disastrous argument (Al Mohler) Video: Why does the earth look so old? (Al Mohler argues that the earth is not as old as it appears) Mark Baddeley critiques YEC: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9 and part 10. Genesis_1:1-2:3_is_not_poetry_and_it_is_historical (Scott Newling, Sola Panel)
